


Film of the Year

by Odds_Evens



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alcohol, Anxiety, Connie has died, Felix is a dick, Film Industry AU, Grief, Jr is a human, M/M, Overdose, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, RvB Big Bang, Sexual References, Snarky Epsilon, Swearing, drug references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 08:38:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9877001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odds_Evens/pseuds/Odds_Evens
Summary: Washington is many thing: an ex-child actor, nephew to the city's biggest producer, and a recovering addict who watched his best friend die from an overdose. Tucker is a single father, a party fanatic, and the writer for what could be the next big indie hit.They could be just what each other needs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Someone remind me to stop writing things that require so much formatting. 
> 
> I make money as a writer in the film industry in Vancouver, mostly for webseries and TV, but I've produced short films before. I'm writing the "business side" of this fic from my own experiences but don't read into it too much. I'm taking a lot of artistic liberty here. 
> 
> Thank you to the ladies running the RvB Big Bang for putting up with my refusal to check my email ever and to transaroshiro for the BEAUTIFUL piece of art that will be coming up in a few chapters.
> 
> Art: http://transaroshiro.tumblr.com/post/157589353542/so-i-was-in-the-rvb-big-bang-this-year-and-this
> 
> Ya'll are amazing.

_She looked so pale. That was the first thing he noticed. The second was how still she was sitting. She was sprawled out on the couch, arms curled around her stomach as if in pain. She'd complained about a stomach ache earlier but he'd ignored her. Told her to take some more pills. They'd get rid of the pain._

_His boyfriend growled something low in his ear, pulling him back toward the bedroom insistently._

_"Maine. I think she's sick."_

_Maine growled again, not giving the girl on the couch so much of a look._

_"Should we call someone?"_

_Maine responded by kissing him roughly. This time, he didn't argue when Maine pulled him away from the couch._

_Connie would be all right._

\---

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

David Washington shot his hand out from underneath the covers, blindly knocking an empty glass off the bedside table before finding his alarm's snooze button.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

His hand slams the alarm off the table before freezing. He relaxes, then throws his covers off to glare at the smooth metal panel on his wall. "Epsilon."

The alarm falls silent. The panel lights up with a glowing blue "E" symbol.

" **Sup**."

"I hate you."

" **Nah. I'm the only one who can put up with you. You love my ass."**

"You're a computer program!"

" **Now, doesn't that just speak volumes about your people skills..."**

Wash makes a face at that before finally pulling himself out of bed. "Why the hell did you wake me up anyway? I thought I told you to let me sleep in."

" **Yeah you told me that on Sunday. It's Monday."**

Wash blinks once before picking up his alarm clock from the floor. Sure enough, it reads Monday June 5. 14:56. "Oh."

" **Should I read your messages while you wash up?"**

Honestly, he was planning on just going back to sleep and forgetting all about his absolutely horrible nightmare, but that was probably a bad idea.

"Sure, whatever. How many are there?"

Epsilon's voice tracks him through the apartment as he heads for the bathroom. " **You really sure you want to know?"**

"How bad could it be?"

" **You have 56 new voicemails."**

Wash stops and stares at Epsilon's panel where it sits on the edge of the bathroom sink. "You're fucking with me."

" **Nope. Most of those are from some fans that got your number somehow. I already deleted them and blocked the numbers so that brings us down to 14. Six of those are from journalist being assholes so I'll forward them to Niner. Speaking of her, she was kind enough to send only four messages this weekend! But judging by the fact that your calendar shows you just slept through another audition, she'll probably be calling back soon."**

Wash visibly winces before pulling off his sleeping shirt and poking at his diminishing six pack. Maybe it was better he'd missed this one. It had been for a recurring firefighter character on a TV show and he really didn't have the body for it anymore. "Epsilon, can you set a reminder for me to hit the gym? I look gross."

" **You are, like, three percent body fat."**

"Just do it."

" **Done**."

Wash glances back at the panel where the remaining four messages sit lined up for him to poke at. One catches his eye right away. From: Carolina Church.

"What's C's message about?"

Epsilon beeps once before a young woman's voice echoes through the bathroom. "Hey Wash. Just shooting you another reminder that my pre-screening is next Wednesday. Your ticket will be waiting at the door and so will I. Don't you dare skip it."

Wash rolls his eyes as he dries off his face. "Respond. Thanks, Carolina. I'll do my best to be there."

Epsilon beeps a confirmation before lighting up again. " **Lying to your friends already, David?"**

"Shut up and play the next message."

Epsilon beeps again, this time being replaced by a male voice that sounds almost exactly like him. "Hey Wash. It's Leonard. Listen, I need a favour-"

"Delete."

The message cuts off as Epsilon returns. " **He's got a nice voice. He should be a voice actor."**

"I hate both of you. Next message."

Another female voice. "Hey rookie, we're having coffee Monday afternoon. I'll forward your personal helper the details so you can't skip out on me. See you then."

He can already see the final message is from Beth "Texas" Nguyen, received only half an hour ago. "Fuck, she's on her way, isn't she."

" **Actually she's downstairs. I just let her in."**

Wash freaks out. "You fucking traitor!

" **It's Tex! She scares me!"**

"She scareS me too! That still doesn't mean you can let people into my house without my permission!"

They're interrupted by the sound of a knock on the front door.

Wash glares at the panel. "Don't you dare-"

The door unlocks.

"You are dead to me."

" **Not technically alive, so... Yeah. Anyway, have fun! I'll log off."** His panel goes dark, reflecting Wash's glare back at him.

Tex's low whistle brings him back to the present. She's leaning on the doorway of his bathroom, eyeing him up and down, and it's only at that moment that he realizes he's wearing only his boxers.

He screams and pushes her out of the room, slamming the door shut after her.

\---

"Oh come on, it was funny!"

"You are the worst friend ever. Of all time."

"You are so fucking dramatic!"

Wash shoots Tex a half hearted glare as she laughs at him again. It took her another half hour or so to coax him out of the bathroom after her arrival, but after that it was smooth sailing to getting him out the front door and into the burning sunlight of the outside world.

Speaking of burning daylight, Wash pulled his cap lower down his face as his sunglasses threatened to slip off his nose once again. Tex could only roll her eyes, face completely undisguised and blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail. "You know, if you were really this paranoid about being recognized, you could always just stop dying your hair."

The glare he gives her shoots that argument down right away.

"Okay, so the bad dye job stays."

"Did you really drag me out of my house just to diss me?"

"Well, that was one of the reasons."

"You're a true friend, Tex."

"I'm a fucking treasure is what I am."

Wash can't help the smile that pulls at his lips, and Tex pretends not to notice it. She leads him into an out-of-the-way Cafe, where the only patrons have their noses buried into a book or a tablet and no one so much as looks up at their entrance. He grabs a table in the corner while Tex grabs them two drinks. A milkshake for herself, and hot chocolate with extra whip cream for him.

"So." She begins, taking the seat across from him. "Let's talk."

"Okay." He agrees, taking a sip from his hot chocolate. Delicious and sweet enough to get him a cavity... Perfect. "What did you want to talk about?"

She studies him for a moment before shrugging. "Honestly, pretty sure everything I want to talk about is off limits with you. The funeral-"

"New topic."

"Niner wanted me to ask-"

"Nope."

"... Have you gotten laid recently?"

"Definitely not talking to you about my sex life."

"Okay." She pauses, looks down at her drink. "How's Maine?"

That's a topic he hadn't expected her to bring up. He was pretty sure she hated Maine with a passion. "I haven't talked to him in a month."

She nods. "Good. That's really good. I heard he was back in rehab?"

"He is." He confirms. "Third time's the charm or something."

She scoffs at that. "He needs to want to get better for rehab to work. You and I both know that."

He nods, hands fiddling before she grabs his left hand and gives it a squeeze. "Seriously though. How are you doing?"

He considers lying, but she'd see through it in a heartbeat. "Shitty. It feels like I either can't sleep a wink or just pass out for days at a time. Epsilon says I get up sometimes but I don't remember anything that I do or say."

She nods. If anybody would understand what he was going through it would be her. "Have you been taking anything?"

"No." He promises. "Not even sleeping pills. Can't stand the idea of going back to that."

"You know it wasn't your fault... Right?"

He doesn't want to hear it. "New topic, please."

She sits back, pulling her hand away and staring down at her milkshake like it personally offended her. "Church wanted me to ask you a favour."

"Which church?"

"The one I'm fucking."

So, Leonard, then. Wash can't help but make a face at that. Tex snorts out a short laugh that just makes him scowl at her. "I don't like him."

"Pretty sure nobody likes him."

"You do."

"Eh."

He smiles at her before nodding. "All right, fine. What's the favour?"

She jumps right into it. "You're a huge nerd, right?"

He blinks, caught off guard. "Excuse me?"

"As in, you like that superhero shit that's really big right now, right?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sort of? I mean, I'm not obsessed or anything but it's fun."

"Great." She takes out her phone and hands it to him. There's a one-page PDF on it.

He reads the title out loud. "Hero Time?"

"It's a script he wants to produce. He wants your input."

"You mean he wants my name on it."

"Your words, not mine."

He hands the phone back to her. "No thanks. I'm not interested."

"Can't say I didn't try."

They fall into a comfortable silence after that, Tex occupied with something on her phone while Wash scans the nearby magazine shelf. One looks interesting, and he brings it back to the table with him to flip through it. He finds three things.

One. Apparently the new 'in thing' for men this season is scarves, so Wash will definitely be making it his mission to not wear a single scarf until January.

Two. Thanks to some sneaky photographers, he now knows more about Carolina's relationship with her new girlfriend then he'd ever want to.

And lastly:

Another tragedy: Our tribute to fallen child star Connie "Connecticut" Johenes.

Tex grabs the magazine from him before he can read past the first paragraph.

"Okay that's enough fresh air for today."

He feels numb as she grabs his arm and leads him out of the cafe.

\---

 _Her_ _face was so pale. She'd always been pale, almost as white as he was, but this was something different. Ashen. Wrong. Her chest was barely moving, but it was moving. She'd been_ _alive_.

 _She'd_ _still_ _been_ _alive_ _then_.

"Wash. Come on, Wash, stay with me."

He blinks, focusing on the warmth of a pair of hands on his face. They're back at his house. He's backed into a corner, his arms wrapped around his legs with Tex kneeling in front of him.

"It's okay. I'm... good."

The look on her face says she doesn't believe him, but she let's go. "You didn't tell me the panic attacks were this bad."

"What are you, my therapist?"

"If you had one maybe I wouldn't have to be it."

He doesn't have a response for that. Not a good one anyway.

" **David would like you to know he responds with 'Your face needs a therapist.'"**

Oh Epsilon was back online.

Wash buries his face back in his knees as Tex throws her head back and laughs. "Dude your AI is the best!"

"Epsilon is a little shit who sounds like a guy I hate and doesn't know what personal boundaries are."

"Hey! Church isn't that bad."

"Well you're fucking him so excuse me for thinking you're biased."

"You're just jealous I have a sex life."

She's got him there, and he can feel the exhaustion ebb its way back into his body now that the adrenaline has passed. "Tex, I'm tired."

Her face softens. "Right. Sure. Guess that's my cue to take off then."

He smiles at her apologetically. "It's not your fault. I'm just... I'm tired."

"I get it. You don't need to explain it to me."

He manages to get up enough to walk her to the door, stopping to give her a half hearted hug which she melts into, not wanting to let him go.

"Now, you aren't going to make me come back here to drag your sorry ass out for another walk, are you?"

"No ma'am." He teases. "But I wouldn't mind hanging out with you again. This time without the abrupt ending."

He regrets his words the minute she smirks at him. "You know... if you read Church's script, it'll give us an excuse to have coffee again."

He exaggerates his sigh and full body roll of the eyes. "Oh my god."

"Come on, nerd. You'll enjoy it."

"You are the worst friend ever. Of all time."

"You'd be lost without me."

She has a point there.

"Fine. Send me the damn script."


End file.
